WASHINGTON - "Strong funding for NASA" and the deep-space rocket known as the Space Launch System being developed in Huntsville is included in a joint House-Senate Omnibus funding bill for 2014 released Monday night by funding committees in both houses, aides to U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa) said today.

SLS is getting $1.6 billion for the rocket development part of the program for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, Shelby's aides said today. Another $300 million approximately will go to funding ground facility improvements for SLS at Kennedy Space Center. The Orion crew capsule is getting nearly $1.2 billion. Huntsville's Marshall Space Flight Center is leading the development of the rocket, and Houston's Johnson Space Flight Center is leading on Orion.

"I am pleased that this legislation includes the funding necessary to continue the great work underway in Huntsville on the Space Launch System," Shelby said in a statement. "If we are to maintain our leadership role in human space flight, we must continue to make SLS a priority in NASA's budget. I will continue to do everything in my power to ensure that."

As vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Shelby served as the top Republican negotiator on the Senate side for the bill.

The overall NASA funding number of $17.6 billion is just $70 million under President Obama's request for the agency. That number does not include sequestration, which was ended for this year by a funding compromise.

The amount going to the overall SLS program is close to the amount Senate appropriators wanted and almost $200 million more than House appropriators provided. The House anticipated continued sequestration in its budgeting, but is expected to pass the Omnibus bill this week. The Senate is also expected to pass it before the weekend.

The Omnibus bill provides $696 million for NASA's commercial crew program, according to reports, and that is less than the $821 million NASA and the White House said is needed to keep the program on track. Shelby's aides said additional accountability measures for commercial crew were also included.(Revised at 12:15 p.m. CST to rewrite the first paragraph and at 12:30 to clarify Sen. Shelby's role in writing the bill)